Dude what's going on?
by Alei-Frozen-Ruby
Summary: Masaya, Ryou, and Kisshu like Ichigo. Run Ichigo, do it while you can.
1. The Fair

So, like, yeah. I don't own the tokyo mew mew, but the others characters I use, I do happen to own, so don't get mad at me. If you want to create characters for me to use, that's perfectly fine, just senf me the profile in a review or e-mail, I don't really care which. The profile should look like this:

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* * *

A tall slender man stood looking down upon the festival. So many people. People with . . . well . . . things. Long dark hair waved in the wind, bound in a low ponytail only by a silver hair tie. Silver eyes flickered as a shadow moved from the forest. The wind ruffled his long black trenchcoat. His black pants felt smooth and cool against his skin as he approached the moving shadow upon silent ground. His black boots did not make a sound. 

A girl and a boy dressed like an army dude (camo and all) stood there. They were just . . . talking. Nothing else. Perfect victims.

Rath approached silently. Quiet whispers ran through the trees of what Rath was about to do. He snuck up behind the couple and swiftly stole thier left shoes and right socks and left before either of them noticed.

Rath stuffed the spoils into a large brown burlap sack containing many right socks and left shoes. Once the bag was full, he was to go after people's right shoes and hats. Boss's orders. Rath often wondered what the Boss did with these kind of things, he was soon to have enough to cloth an army. Rath had stolen many right shoes, other shoes, left knee pads, bracelets, armbands, hats, left gloves, outer shirts, left socks, right socks, undershirts, other knee pads, glasses, and other gloves.

But one thing Rath was rather proud of was that he had never stolen from the same person twice. He would have stopped awhile ago, but then the Boss hired another thief and now it was a matter of pride and principle.

Rath had also met two girls who'd said 'Bob' for over an hour because niether could let the other out-Bob her. It was quite funny when you thought about it that way.

Anyways, Rath exited the forest and headed for the village. The dirt path had worn away long ago, there was no guide for him, except the illustrious lights and the bright sounds of the festival. He would have known his way there otherwise because he went there a lot to steal. There were always so many new people there, he couldn't begin to count how many different people anterred and exited a day.

To Rath, it seemed to draw tourists to it like moths to a light. Tourists weren't bad though. They always had just the things Rath needed to get. He had stolen many a digital camera from unwary tourists. It was great fun.

Rath stopped just outside the village and put on his disguise. He put a tilted affro on his head and tied a sparkly cloth around it. He then put a large tye-dye t-shirt on over his trenchcoat and pulled up a five sizes too large pair of girl's jeans. You couldn't really tell they were girl jeans, they were so baggy. He didn't bother to change his shoes, no one could see them through the jeans.

* * *

Masaya Aoyama finally had the guts to ask Ichigo, the girl of his dreams, to go to the festival with him, as his date. The only other person who would ask her was Ryou Shirogane. Ahh. Shirogane. The stupid runt, Masaya thought. He doesn't deserve to be rich. He's got it all: the money, the popularity, the fan girls. I should have some fan girls. Shirogane's not that much better than me, Masaya rationalized. 

He knocked on Ichigo's door. "In a minute!" she called. Masaya stood patiently outside while Ichigo came to the door.

Her bright pink eyes lit up when she saw him. "Hey Masaya, what's up?" she asked and stepped aside to let him in. He came in and wiped his feet on the doormat. "Ichigo, I have something to ask you," Masaya started, then saw Shirogane sitting at the table. "Hey Masaya, what're you doing here?" Ryou asked sweetly. "Why is _he _here?" Masaya asked. "He asked me to go to the festival with him- as his date!" Ichigo announced. "And she said yes," Ryou finished with a satisfied smile. Masaya's fists clenched and anger boiled up inside him. He stalked out of the room.

Ichigo and Ryou looked after him. "Was it something I said?" Ichigo asked. Ryou shook his head saying, "No, strawberry, you were fine. Now run along and put on your party dress and gossip with your friends about me being your date and all that stuff you do so well," Ryou said and pecked Ichigo on the cheek.

She blushed and punched him playfully on the arm. He smiled and walked out the door. "I'll droop by in an hour," he said and shut the door behind him.

* * *

Masaya stalked Ichigo and Ryou around the festival grounds, waiting until he could catch Shirogane alone, and then maybe show him who was more of a man. Ichigo and Ryou were currently dancing together. Ichigo looked so pretty. She was wearing a sparkling pink dress with red ribbons holding up her hair. A red rose was in her hair and she was leaning on Ryou. They were talking quietly to each other.

Ryou had noticed that Masaya was following him and Ichigo around a lot. He figured that Masaya wanted to fight him for Ichigo. Fat chance he'd win. Ryou swirled Ichigo around the dance floor. She was pretty good at dancing. A crowd formed around them as the tempo increased to something more lively.

Ryou swirled Ichigo around and Ichigo turned with passion. Her skirts swirled outward and she flung her head back. Ryou led Ichigo across the dance floor on feet of fire. They turned and swirled and became ever closer until . . .

Masaya couldn't bear to watch and Shirogane kissed his girl. He stomped from the scene, looking for easy prey. He spotted a stargely dress hippy dude and went up to him. The dude was three years older than Masaya, but he didn't care. He walked up to the hippy dude and said, "You're gay."

Rath listened to the little person insulting him from below. Rath placed his hands ceremoniously on the boy's shoulders and cleared his throat. He looked down at the boy and siad, "These are the words of the hippy dude." And then he opened his mouth as if to say something, but, instead, kicked the impertinent little person in the shin, grabbed his left shoe and right sock, and ran off.

Masaya cursed and hopped up and down, holding his shin.

A green haired boy approached Ryou and Ichigo. "May I cut in?" he asked. Ryou looked him over. This boy was a traveller, by the looks of it. "We are dancing," Ryou replied. "You were trying to dance. She was succeeding," the green haired one replied and cut in.

Ichigo smiled at Ryou and Ryou stepped back.

"I'm Ichigo, who're you?" Ichigo asked as the music started up once more. The green haired one spun her out across from him and said, "I am Kish." Then he spun her into him and stole a kiss. He spun her out once more and said, "Thanks for the kiss." Ichigo turned bright red, but kept dancing.

Ryou noticed that the green haired traveller had kissed Ichigo. She was blushing, but still with him. Didn't she have any sense at all? Ryou turned around and noticed Masaya was hopping and cursing at someone who wasn't there. Ryou smirked at him. After stalking him and Ichigo, Masaya deserved whatever had happened.

Kish spun Ichigo in and Ichigo asked, "You're not from around here. Where're you from?" Kish spun her out and the coupled moved across the dance floor. "I am from . . . I am a traveller. I take it you live around here?" He replied spinning Ichigo. Ichigo replied as she spun into him, "Yeah. Lived here my whole life. There are two guys who like me, but they both seem to wanna stay here." Kish nodded and they moved to the center. "So I assume you want to travel," he said as the beat became louder and the music more lively. "Yeah. That'd be nice," Ichigo said in a dreamy voice and swivelled her hips in time to the music. "But now, we should dance!" she cried and then the dancing really started.

Ryou watched in jealousy. This traveller looked very good dancing with Ichigo. They made the perfect pair. He looked at Ichigo and she seemed happy. He could leave Ichigo with this boy . . . As long as she was happy, Ryou decided. But he would keep an eye on them, just to be sure. Then, a starnge sensation crept up his foot. He looked down, and where his left shoe should've been, there was only a black socked foot! He looked down at his other foot and realized that his sock was gone! Then, as if to make the night worse, Masaya seemed to have recovered and was glaring daggers at him and was slowly advancing.

Rath noticed that the little person he had kicked was about to waste another blonde kid he had just taken the left shoe and right sock from. The burlap sack was nearly full now and Rath figured it was okay if he had a little . . . fun, persay.

Ichigo and Kish were panting by the time they were done dancing. They moved off the dance floor and sat down at a table. "Well, would you like to come travelling with me?" Kish asked Ichigo. It was so spur of the moment that Ichigo was taken off guard. "Wh- what?" she asked, heart pounding. Kish took her hand, "Would you like to come travelling with me?" And he stole another kiss. Ichigo's heart leaped with joy. "Yes, Kish, I'd like that very much," she replied and kissed him softly on the lips. Kish smiled and looked into her bright pink eyes. "When do you want to leave?" he asked. "Let me get into my travelling clothes and we can leave tonight," Ichigo said. Kish smiled and kissed her once more, then escorted her to her home.

Ryou didn't panic as Masaya approached. He could easily beat Masaya, but it wa really annoying, ya know? Masaya was always doing this thing where he tried to prove that he was better than Ryou, but in reality, the only thing he did better than Ryou himself, was try to beat Ryou. It was really starting to bug Ryou. Maybe he could teach Masaya a lesson once and for all.

Rath approached the two. The blondie seemed to be going through some sort of mental thing because his expression went from totally fearful to annoyed then to angry only to go back to fearful and then thoughtful before twisting into annoyance. Rath ignored that. And, apparently, so did the little person. He approached the younglings silently as they charged at each other.

Before Ryou could hit Masaya, a firm hand on his forehead stopped him. He looked up to see some sort of hippy dude standing an armslength away from both him and Masaya, blocking them both with his hands.

Rath smirked at the dark haired one. He was actually trying to punch him. The blonde one was smart. He had stopped and was looking up at Rath.  
Masaya finally looked up to see what was blocking his way and gulped. The hippy dude placed the blondie and the little person side by side in front of him.

The hippy dude placed his hands on their shoulders and cleared his throat. Ryou knew that this adult was probably going to give them a lecture of some sort. However, a fear crept up Masaya's spine and a queasy feeling settled in his stomach. This was not going to be good.

Ichigo and Kish sat in her room. She was dressed and ready to go. "Are you sure you want to do this, Ichigo?" Kish asked. "Yep, positive," Ichigo replied, her pink head nodding along with her answer. " 'cuz I don wanna force you into anything you don't wanna do," Kish replied. "I want to do this. I've wanted to for a long long time. I just wanted someone to go with me," Ichigo said quietly looking down at the floor. Kish smiled with relief. He put a finger under her chin and drew her into a kiss. When he broke it off, Ichigo smiled and said, "Let's go." Kish nodded and stood up to leave, as did Ichigo.

The hippy dude cleared his throat and said, "These are the words of the hippy dude." Then he slammed Masaya's and Ryou's heads together, pulled a Nixon ((flinging both his hands in the air in 'v' s)) and ran off, laughing. Ryou rubbed his head and Masaya cursed the hippy dude once more and ran after him.

Ryou looked around to check on Ichigo and noticed she and the traveller were gone. He slapped his forehead and reprimanded himself for leaving them alone. Ryou ran out of the festival boundaries looknig for Ichigo and mysterious green headed traveller. He looked along a row of houses and saw that Ichigo's light was on. He peeked into her room. She and the green haired someone were sitting on her bed, just . . . talking. Ryou stayed hidden as they left, but stood up and asked, "Ichigo?"

Masaya ran after the hippy dude at top speed. What was up with this dude! First he kicked him in the shin and then he bubmped his head against Shirogane's! And Masaya was pretty sure the hippy dude had stolen his left shoe and right sock. Soon Masaya lost track of the dude and grudgingly went to look for Ichigo.

Ichigo turned at the sound of Ryou's voice. Ichigo's pink eyes widened. "Oh! Ryou, hi. What's up?" She asked. "Where are you going?" Ryou asked, noticing she was no longer in the sparkling pink dress, but was in a set of durable travel clothes. "She's gonna go travelling with me," Kish replied looking fondly down at Ichigo. Ryou whipped off his formal jacket revealing the fact that he too was wearing trvalling clothes. "I'm going with you," Ryou announced and stood on Ichigo's other side. Kish looked at Ichigo and she seemed fine with it, so he allowed this 'Ryou' person to stay.

Rath followed the little person around the festival, while, of course, collecting the last left shoes and right socks he would need to fill the burlap sack. The boy seemed to be drifting away from the crowds and toward three people in the dark town. The moon shined brightly overhead as Rath followed him down the road. His sensitive ears could pick up three people talking, but he figured the little person couldn't. He sighed as he figured that the little person was about to make more trouble.

Masaya had the stragest feeling that he was being followed, but whenever he glanced back, no one was there. He approached a scene he _really _diliked. Ichigo was standing in the arms of some green haired dude that _wasn't _Masaya, and Shirogane was on Ichigo's other side. They looked like they were about to go travelling. "Ichigo? What're you doing!" Masaya bursted out. Ichigo's eyes widened and Shirogane and the green dude stepped in front of Ichigo, blocking her from anything Masaya might do. "She's travelling with us," Ryou announced. "What!" Masaya yelled. Luckily, no one at the festival heard, or it would've brought the police running. If they weren't already after the shoe and sock thief.

Rath watched the exchange with interest, but when the little person pull out a gun, he quickly stepped in. "Yo." he said. Masaya turned around and dropped the gun. His eyes widened in fear. Ryou slowly edged away from the hippy dude as inconspicuosly as possible. Ichigo didn't notice. "Who're you?" Kish asked. The hippy dude cleared his throat. "I am the hippy dude," Said he and grabbed Masaya by the collar as he trie to run away. He pulled Masaya in front of him and placed his hands on Masaya's shoulders. Ryou felt relieved that the hippy dude wasn't grabbing _him._ The hippy dude cleared his throat. "These are the words of the Hippy Dude: I warned you once. I warned you twice. And this is the last warning. If I must warn you again, you might not live to tell about it," and with that, the hippy dude swatted Masaya upside the head, kicked him in the other shin, pulled a nixon and ran off into the bushes. Masaya hopped up and down holding his shin, but did not curse at him for Ichigo's sake, but instead screamed at the vanishinged hippy dude, "Get back here you coward! Come and fight like a man!" Ryou and Kish smirked at Masaya, but Ichigo did not seem to quite grasp the situation. She ran up to Masaya. "Are you all right?" she asked looking at his shin. "Ichigo, no!" Ryou and Kish cried at once.

Masaya grabbed Ichigo's arms and looked into her eyes. The pink orbs widened in fear. He stroked her dark magenta hair and said, "I love you, Ichigo." Then, without a warning of any sort, he kissed her on the lips. Sparks went off in Masaya's mouth as he pushe dhis tongue into her mouth. Ichigo struggled to get away, but was entirely helpless.

Kish and Ryou burned with anger, and, before they could stop themselves, they picked up some thick heavy branches and hit Masaya on the head. It cracked open as he released Ichigo. The fallen boy lay on the ground, twitching. A cold silence pressed in upon them and Kish and Ryou buried Masaya in the branches. "Let's go," Ryou said to Ichigo and the trio walked off. Out of the village and away from the festival.

Epilouge:

Rath came back later that night and chopped off Masaya's head after realizing that there was a 50 million dollar reward on his head.


	2. Roxy

People, do you think you could make me some villians? Please?

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**Chapter 2**

Rath walked leisurely through the forest, looking for one last victim. He sniffed the air and altered his course. He speeded up and snuck up upon a girl. She looked sort of mexican, but she had all the needed items.

He quietly approached her and, before she knew what was happening, he had stolen her right shoe and he left sock.

He ran into the forest, but heard steps pounding behind him. He ran faster and leaped up a tree. The girl looked up at him. She had brown hair with purple tips which went down to the small of her back. Dark brown eyes pierced through Rath, btu he didn't move a muscle. Millions of golden bracelets adorned her wrists. She galred up at him. "Give me back my stuff!" Rath smirked. "And just why?" The girl made a strange noise. "Did you just _growl_ at me?" Rath asked.

"Mew Mew Roxy Metamorphosis!" She shouted.

Ahugepale lavender sword with a black ribbon tied around it appeared in her outstretched hands. Stars swirled around her andglowed brightly. They burst into showers of blackandviolet sparkles. In their place was a black mew mew skirt and a violettop. Black boots with biolet buckles adorned her feet. violet gloves with black string tied around them formed on her hands.

White ears of the arctic fox grew on her head, as the bushy tail from the same animal grew long and lusterous.

"I am Mew Roxy, mew mew of stars and light!" she announced and jumped up into the tree where Rath had stationed himself. "You will forever regret the day you messed with Roxy Toyoka!"

Rath laughed lightly and jumped up a full layer of branches above her. "You'll never catch me!" Rath taunted and took off running through the trees.

Roxy took off after him, tail trailing behind her. "Come back here infidel!" she shouted and accelerated.

Rath looked back and smiled. "Is that the best you can do?" he asked and leaped down on the ground. He raced across the ground, dodging in and out of trees.

Roxy jumped down after him and was soon running side by side. Rath looked back, but was surprised to see her right across from him. He smiled deviously and leaped across so they were running side by side.

Roxy looked across in surprise, but quickly took it as a challenge. She sped up as Rath did the same.

Rath grabbed hold of a branch as the forest trees thinned out. He swung himself up and landed in the tree. Roxy ran right on by, but when Rath turned around to jump away, she was right there in front of him, smiling a little half smile. "Are you getting tired? I'm just getting warmed up," she taunted witha daredevil smile and lunged for the bag, but Rath dodged and began leaping across the branches.

The arctic fox mew set off in a huff after him. She chased him out of the forest and down onto a dirt path surrounded by boulders.

She was closing in on him when he suddenly jumped into the boulders. He leaped gracefully from one giant rock tot he next, Roxy right on his tail. He turned around and started running backwards. "Still think I'm tired?" He taunted. Roxy glared and tackled him to the ground. They rolled down the boulders, each recieving their share of cuts and bruises, and landed on the dirt path.

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Kish, Ryou, and Ichigo were several miles away from the town by the time dusk had dawned. Ichigo yawned and was barely awake. She was walking slowly. Ichigo swayed on her feet and was about to collapse when she felt somthing warm grip her waist and hoist her up. She snuggled against whatever it was and fell asleep.

Kish smirked at Ryou as Ichigo snuggled up to him. Ryou opened his mouth to yell something but Kish said quietly, "Shhh. The kitty's sleeping." Ryou shut his mouth and glared at the green haired boy.

"I think we should find a place to sleep," Ryou pointed out as Kish yawned for the umpteenth time. Kish nodded. "How about over there?" Ryou asked, pointing to a sheltered place by the path. Kish nodded and curled up around Ichigo, instantly falling alseep. Ryou let out an exhasperated sigh and sleepily detangled Ichigo from Kish and fell asleep himself.

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A small pebble tumbled down from the boulders above. It bounced off of sharp edges, gaining speed. The small rock hit Ryou on the head around midday, waking him from a much needed slumber. He looked up hazily and his eyes widened as two figures crashed into him.

One was a strangely dressed half animal girl, and the other was a tall lanky man who slightly reminded him of that strange man, who was it? oh yeah, the "hippy dude". Thank goodness it wasn't really the hippy dude.

Ryou looked down upon the new comers. The man quickly stood. He was uncommonly tall and had long black hair with piercing silver eyes. His skin was uncommonly pale, like Ryou's own, and he word a black and silver trenchcoat and pants with matching black boots. Leather gloves adorned his hands as he struggled with his companion for a burlap sack.

His companion was a girl with long brown hair and millions of bracelets. She was dressed in a strange outfit and had the ears and tail of an arctic fox. Ichigo sat up and yawned. "Wha . . .?"

Ryou helped the pink haired girl up. Kish, amazingly, was still sleeping. Snoring, to be exact. Ichigo looked at the two struggling over the sack blankly. She walked up to them. "What're you guys fightin' 'bout?" She asked.

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Rath and Roxy looked up at the pink haired girl and instantly straightened up. "He stole my left shoe and right sock," Roxy accused. "Actually, it was your right shoe and left sock," Rath corrected. "And for that you shall pay!" and she held up her sword.

"I shouldn't of said that,"Rath said andbegan to run down the path, but not before Roxy could shout, "Astrum Check!" Roxy shouted and her sword began to glow. It sent out a flurry of small stars which surrounded Rath. She brought her sword down upon him and the earth rumbled and moved beneath her feet.

The skies seemed to rain down rocks and dry hail.Roxy scanned the screen of dust for anysign ofRath.

Rath landed behind her. "To think,I thought you might havegood aim," Rath commented. Roxy's cheeks burned with rage and she let leash another attack on him, "Astrum Check!" she shouted. Her sword glowed once again, and she lunged toward Rath and brought her sword down.

Rath dodged and leaped onto the rocks, making is getaway while the sword hit the only other thing in its path to the ground, Ichigo. There was an explosion of pink light as the sword made contact with Ichigo. She lay limp on the ground.

Ryou stared in shock, looking at Ichigo's still body. Roxy stared down at the girl. "I-- I'm sorry. I-- I didn't m- mean to!" She shouted. She looked around and found that Rath had vanished, along with her shoe and sock. "You get back here you infidel!" She screamed and tore down after Rath.

Kish was amazingly still asleep.

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Ryou was cooking dinner when Kish showed signs of maybe waking up. He was sort of mumbling and rolling around. Ryou figured that the rocks would eventually wake him up. No one could sleep through that, Ryou was sure. But then again, Kish had slept through a minor earth quake, a shower of rocks, and Ichigo's death. Oh, and there was also all that yelling Rath and Roxy had done, not to mention the battle cries and taunting.

Ichigo's body lay pale and still as the sunset. She looked as though she were merely sleeping. Ryou closed his eyes and told himself not to cry. He bore the pain silently and ate his dinner.

"no . . . gravy . . . yeaaaah . . . no . . . not that! Don't TOUCH THE RED BUTTON!" Kish yelled in his sleep. "Go back to sleep or I'll push the red button!" Ryou yelled at the sleep talking one. "Guy, what does he dream of at night!" Ryou asked himself.

Later that night, when the first star came out, Ryou laid down to sleep.

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Kish hazily opened his eyes and saw that Ichigo and Ryou were still sleeping, Ryou curled up beside her. Kish glared at Ryou and saw food laid out. He dug into it with gusto, that's why, when an iromoto wildcat crept up to Ichigo's fallen form, he didn't notice. Likewise with all the other cats who came up and gathered by Ichigo.

The iromoto wildcat stepped up to Ichigo's head and looked at her through glowing green eyes. It mewed and began to wash Ichigo's face. The other cats began to help and soon Ichigo had been completely washed.

The iromoto wildcat stepped back and mewed for one of its kittens. The small black cat stepped forward. The mother cat breathed on it and the kitten became ghostlike. It jumped into Ichigo and she began to glow pink.

The lead cat let out a long high pitched mew. Its cry rang out through the air like a bell. The other cats joined in and soon the air was filled the mewing.

Kish turned around and saw all the cats assembled around Ichigo. She was glowing pink. For a moment, no longer, Kish saw an image of Ichigo dressed in a light pink strapless outfit, very becoming. She held in her gloved hands a heart shaped weapon with two golden bells tied on. The strawberry bell of mew Ichigo. then the image faded with the wind and Ichigo stood rubbing her head.

"What just happened?" She asked but found herself looking into Kish's golden eyes, for the cats had vanished the minute her image had appeared. Kish held Ichigo close and kissed her.

Ichigo blushed. "Um, yeah." Ryou, who was a very light sleeper, had awakened the moment the cats had started howling and he too, had seen the image of mew Ichigo and her Strawberry bell. He was overjoyed that Ichigo was alive once more, but was soon angered when Kish drew Ichigo close and pressed his lips against hers.

Ryou came up behind Kish and punched him. He caught Ichigo as she fell and snarled, "Don't touch her again."

Kish seemed slightly miffed, but he went back to eating his food.

Ryou drew Ichigo aside and brought something out of his pocket. It was a small package wrappe din shiny pink paper. "Yesterday was your birhday, but I didn't have a chance to give you this," He said and handed her the present.

Ichigo was slightly stunned that he had remembered that, considering that amid the excitement not even Ichigo herself had remembered her birthday, but she accepted the gift anyway and carefully opened the box. Inside was a golden pendant with an engraved pink symbol on it. it was on a pink ribbon. She smiled.

Ryou took the ribbon and tied it around her neck. Ichigo smiled and Ryou leaned in, like her was going to kiss her. But something seemed to happen and he drew back. Ichigo was left confused and Ryou led her back to the fire Kish had started sometime. Kish patted the dirt next to him and handed Ichigo a slice of pink strawberry cake that Ryou had baked at some point during the night.

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Rath slowed his pace, certain that he had lost Roxy, that crazy mew mew. He saw a pink glow in the distance and decided that where there was glowing, there was tourists and where there were tourists there were socks and shoes.

He stopped at the brink of the circle and decided to change into his costume, always a good idea. He slipped on the lopsided affro wig and the sparkly handkerchief. He pulled on the tye dye t shirt and and baggy girl style jeans. He put on a pair of shades and stepped down only to see a girl and two boys. They looked rather familiar.

Ah, well, no matter. He was almost to the boss's lair.

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Masaya's head reeled from the blow he had taken. He warily stood only to find there was a cluster of girls around him, specifically, a blue one and a purple one. They were both very beautiful, but they weren't Ichigo. Ah, it was all coming back now. The insane hippy dude, the bashing of the head, everything. He felt angered and decided to go take revenge . . .

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Ah yes, he had seen them yesterday. One was the friend of the impudent small boy and the other two had been dancing the whole time. Rath didn't really know who they were. He sensed and presence behind him and cast a glance. The crazy mew had somehow caught up to him, but didn't know it was him.

"Have you seen a tall guy about yea high?" She asked and proceeded to describe Rath. Rath shook his head, but sensed some sort of danger. He looked beyond Roxy and saw the boy, who was it? Masaya, yeah, that was it. How was he alive? Rath wondered, but decided that even though Roxy was a crazy mew, she didn't deserve to be in the presence of such a youth.

"Come on, there's a camp over there I was going to," Rath said and Roxy went along with him. They made it to the camp and found that it belonged to the duo they had visited earlier only, now they had been joined by a green haired traveler. Roxy was surprised and grateful to see the girl up and living.

The hippy dude (formerly Rath) sat down by the fire and helped himself to some of Ryou's cooking. Ryou noticed he was there and decided not to bother him. Kish, however, was a different story. Ryou noticed this was happened and cautioned Kish.

"Who're you?" Kish demanded. The hippy dude look up from his meal and stood. Ryou looked away as the hippy dude straightened up. He walked over to Kish and bade him to rise. Kish did so, wonderingly at that. The hippy dude laid his hands on Kish's shoulders and boomed out in a deep voice, "These are the words of the hippy dude: . . ." and he kicked Kish in the shin, gathered up his food, and took off toward the valley which Kish was leading the group toward. Kish hopped up and down. "I told you not to mess with him," Ryou said and took another bite out of his hamburger.

Kish glared at the fire. It'd officially been decided that Roxy was to travel with Kish and Ryou. They were safely on their way when they were approached by Masaya.

He stepped up. "Hello Shirogane, hello Ichigo," he said and took Ichigo's hand. Ichigo blushed, not remembering past events. Masaya kissed her hand and smiled up into her eyes.

Masaya's smiled turned into a frown as he laid eyes upon Shirogane and Kish. TheRyou looked back at him, seemingly unfazed. Roxy wondered at the silence. "Um, hi, I'm Roxy, who're you?" She asked sticking out her hand. Masaya shook it and smiled. "I am Masaya Aoyama. Pleased to meet you."

"Well, I'm glad you finally spoke to _someone_," a voice said from behind him. The group turned to look at her, and found that there were two hers. One was about Ichigo's age and had blue hair tied up into double buns. The other was tall maybe 17, and had the disposition and body of a model. She had royal purple hair and deep purple eyes. "This is Mint Aizawa and Zakuro Fujiwara," Masaya introduced them.

Ichigo smiled. "Hello Mint and Zakuro, I'm Ichigo Momomiya and this is Ryou Shirogane and Kish and Roxy Toyoka," Ichigo introduced them. Zakuro nodded in acknowledgement. They then started off toward the valley with Kish leading the way. Mint came up beside Ichigo and said, "So the hot blonde guy is Ryou Shirogane and the cute green guy is Kish?" Ichigo nodded, sort of surprised. She'd never thought any of them was hot or cute, except for maybe Kish.

Ichigo took another look at the boys, trying to see them through Mint's eyes.


	3. Kia's Stupid Hormones

Darkgreenprietess- thanks for letting be use Noturna!

Mercenarychick- thanks for letting me use Kia!

Mewkoneko-chan1- thanks for letting me use Roxy!

Claimer/Disclaimer:Nothing I write should make you think I own TMM. Mewkoneko-chan1 owns Roxy. Darkgreenprincess owns Noturna and Mercenarychick owns Kia. I own the hippy dude, although I would like to extend credit to my friend Steffie for the idea.

Oh, and here's the new villian format:

Character name:

Gender:

Age:

Race:

Powers (you don't have to do this if you have a weapon):

Occupation (optional):

appearance (optional unless you want me to make the appearance up):

Bio (optional):

Weapons (Don't have to if you have a power):  
Personality (optional unless you want me to assume they're cold hearted):

* * *

"So, have you had breakfast?" Ichigo asked Mint. Mint nodded. "Of _course _we have. We only started traveling today, and that was because he wanted to find you," Mint explained. Ichigo nodded, surprised. She smiled largly to herself and thought that Masaya cared about her. 

"So how did you find him?" Ichigo asked. Mint shrugged. "He was lying on the side of the road some where and I took him back to Zakuro's house and we nursed him back to health. After he was concious for the first time, all he wanted to do was find you," Mint explained. Ichigo nodded. "And then you and Zakuro accompanied him?" Ichigo asked. Mint nodded. "Of course, you don't think we'd let him go out on his own do you? Boys who do that generally get in lots of trouble, with money, men, and themselves. We wanted him to actually achieve his goal," Mint said in a 'no- duh' tone of voice. Ichigo nodded. "Are you going to be heading back now?" She asked. Mint nodded. "Of course, unless Zakuro-onee-sama wishes to travel, but I'm not sure she does," Mint replied.

Ichigo turned to the purple haired woman. "Are you going to be traveling with us?" She asked. Zakuro gave her a look. Ichigo had the urge to slowly back away from Zakuro. "No. Mint and I will be heading back to the village," Zakuro said sourly. "Good-bye Masaya, we wish you many happy years. Come visit us sometime," Mint said to him. Then she flirtatiously said good-bye to both Ryou and Kish before leaving with Zakuro. After they were a good distance away, Zakuro turned to her and said, "You are such a flirt." Mint looked up at her. "And you have a problem with that?" Zakuro shook her head. "It's just going to get you in trouble someday . . ." Zakuro trailed off.

Ryou and Kish watched Mint and Zakuro walk away. Kish turned back to Ichigo saying, "Glad they're gone." "Really? I thought Mint was rather nice," Ichigo commented. "She's a flirt," Roxy sourly said. Kish turned to the mexican mew. "Are you jealous?" He asked. Roxy immediately turned red. "No!" She shouted. Then grumbled, "Stupido nino . . ." Kish's face turned red. "What did you say?" He shouted. Roxy turned away. "Nada. Yo habla nada," she replied. "Speak english!" Kish commanded. Roxy then proceeded to walk away from him and toward the valley. "Great going, Kish. You have really good people skills," Ryou said sarcastically. Kish paused for a moment, thinking about what Ryou said, then replied, "Thank you . . . I think." Ryou sighed. "Sarcasm is a foreign language to you, isn't it?" Ryou stated. Kish growled at Ryou. "This could've gone better," Masaya commented to Ichigo from the sidelines. Ichigo sighed.

----------

Rath leisurely walked through the valley beyond. Soon he would come upon a city: he could see the lights in the distance. He vaguely wondered why they turned the lights on during the day. Rath came upon a large gushing river and looked around for a bridge. He spotted a large one farther down. It was a drawbridge with a few cars rolling across. Not much. He shifted his bag of goodies to the other shoulder and set off.

A few miles behind, Roxy was angrily stalking away from Ichigo, Ryou, Masaya, and Kish. But mostly Kish. "Stupido nino," She muttered to herself. Then she sulked and pouted until she felt a little better about everything and began to wonder where she was and where she was headed. "Well, I had better find a stream and follow that," She said to herself. "Sooner or later I'll run into a city. . . . or a village," She added to herself.

----------

Ichigo, Ryou, Kish, and Masaya were finally moving. Kish was leading the group and Ichigo was right behind him. For some reason, whenever Ichigo looked behind at Ryou and Masaya, they seemed to be glaring at each other, carrying on a silent argument. She once tried to ask about it, but they both shushed her. Feeling miffed, Ichigo stuck her nose up in the air, closed her eyes, and tried to ignore them. That was, of course, before she tripped over a rather large rock and almost fell. Kish, who had been checking on Ichigo from time to time to make sure she was all right, caught her before she fell. Kish helped her back up and Ichigo smiled gratefully at him as they started walking again. Kish turned around and began walking backwards, facing Masaya and Ryou.

"So, you're from the village, right?" Kish asked Masaya. "Yes," Masaya replied with aggrivating affability. Kish was silent for a moment. Then he asked, "Are you two planning on staying long?" "What do you mean?" Masaya asked. "Well, I can understand anting to travel with me an' Ichigo, but once we get to the city, are you going to be staying with us?" Kish asked. Ryou looked slyly at Masaya. "Maybe," The blondie answered. Masaya, not to be out-done, replied, "I was thinking of staying with you for the first few days." Kish raised his eyebrows. "You're getting an apartment too?" He asked. Ryou smiled smugly at Masaya. "Of course," Masaya replied. "I'm guarding Ichigo," He explained. "From what, him?" Ryou asked, referring to Kish. "And others," Masaya replied, glancin pointedly at Ryou. Both Kish and Ryou were offended. Kish turned back around and strode ahead of Ichigo, walking quickly. Ryou put on a rich boy act (in other words, acting like he's so much better than everyone and everything else) and also strode ahead of Masaya. Ichigo soon fell behind with Masaya.

"What's wrong with them?" She asked. Masaya smiled. "Nothing, just a bit of jealousy," He replied with a small smile. Ichigo nodded. "Ah, so that's why they're miffed," She commented. Masaya shrugged. "Of course . . ." He replied, trailing off. He suddenly felt as though he was being watched. Masaya looked up at the rocks, but saw nothing. THe first thing that came to his mind was that the hippy dude was stalking him. He winced. "Is something wrong?" Ichigo asked. "No, it's nothing," Masaya assured her. "If you say so," Ichigo replied.

----------

Rath had crossed the bridge and entered the city. He shifted the burlap sack once more and threaded his way through the gray crowds. Although it was day time, thick gray clouds blotted out the sun. When ever Rath came back to the cuty, the clouds were there. He had begun to think that those clouds were there perpetually and had been there since the dawn of time. He bent his head low and pushed on. He passed by an alley and some shops selling over priced goods. He crossed the street and wove his way through the grey suited people. He paused at a dark alley. He glanced around and vanished into the darkness.

----------

Roxy stopped at the entrance to the city. "wow, what a dreary place," She murmured to herself. Grey clouds blotted out any ray of sunshine, except in certain patches. The buildings were large and grey and all the cars were painted black, grey, maroon, or blue. Somtimes she saw a white limousine pass by. But the people were worse than the landscape. They wore bleak suits in various shades of black, grey, and navy blue. THey all wore scowls or no expression at all. Roxy looked down at hereslf, dressed in brightly colored clothes, well, brightly colored compared to all the greyness, and one shoe and one sock missing. What a sight she would be. But then again, these people didn't seem to notice anything at all outside of their own little worlds. Roxy sighed and suddenly gasped.

She saw a tall black haired man making his way through the crowd. He looked just like that theif! Roxy growled and and plunged into the sea of greyness. She plowed through the people, slowly catching up to Rath. He paused at a traffic light, then walked across the street at the head of a crowd. Roxy barely managed to catch the tail of it. As she approached him, she chuckled evilly to herself, thinking of all the things she could do to him after she got her shoe and sock back. But, while she was thinking these things, Rath vanished. Roxy's jaw dropped. A man shoved by her and grumbled something.

Roxy managed a growl and a pout. She stalked forward and looked into an alley. That was the only place her prey could've gone. She was rewarded by seeing a wisp of black hair vanish around the corner. She hurried forth and saw the end of a black boot. The mexican mew dashed after it, twisting around corners and hurrying down darker and darker alley ways. As the alleys became darker, the people became more numerous. She supposed some of them were thieves, like Rath. Maybe belonging to a secret organization. Roxy struggled to keep sight of Rath. She'd finally caught a little ways up to him. She watched as he, and a few others, knocked on a section of the grey brick wall. It slid open and the group slid inside. Roxy hurried after him as the door slid shut with a rumble.

----------

Ichigo & Co. had made it successfully to the valley beyond. Kish paused at the rocky outcropping, looking out upon the green grassy fields and the large rushing river. Ryou came up beside him and saw the drawbridge int he distance and a heap of grey clouds threatening rain. Masaya came up and only saw Ichigo. Ichigo accidentally bumped into Kish, which jolted him into moving again. Soon they were safely on the floor of the valley.

"Well, we're almost there," Kish commented. "So I saw," Ryou responded. Kish pulled Ichigo up with him. "So, Ichigo, I was thinking we could spend a few days here, then move on to the next town," Kish said. "You mean we're not going to stay here?" Ichigo asked. "No, of course not! This city is much to boring," Kish nearly spat. "Really?" Ichigo asked doubtfully. Kish nodded. "It'll bore you to death. There's always grey clouds hovering above it, threatening rain but never giving any. Everyone dresses in grey suits and the people glare at you every waking moment of the day," Kish painted. Ichigo's eyes widened in shock. To her, this was like a horror story. "Kish, stop scaring her," Ryou said, putting himself between the traveler and the cat girl. Kish turned away. "Whatever, you'll see when we get there," He said.

----------

A pair of bright violet eyes looked out from the bushes at Ryou, Kish, Masaya, and Ichigo. But mostly Kish. "Well well well, so the rumors were true," a sleek voice quietly said to itself. The eyes blinked and vanished into the shadows.

----------

Rath stepped into the stoney corridor. His boots made next to no sound on the floors. He heard a small shuffling behind him. He was glanced out of the corners of his eyes and grumbled. It was the mew that wanted to kill him. How did she get in there anyway? Rath walked faster and attempted to lose her in the maze that was the lair. He turned left, then right, then went straight and made a double left. Then he backed himself into a dark corner and watched the mew shuffle quickly by. He then poked his head out as he watched her turn the corner. Once he knew she was out of the way, he re-traced his steps and pushed a small red button in the wall. It spun, taking him to the other side.

Half the room was dimly lit, the other was in complete darkness. "Do you have the goods?" A deep rumbling voice asked from the darkness. Rath held up the sack. "Good. Give it to her," The voice said. There was some shuffling and a slim bony girl came out of the darkness. Rath looked her over. "Another?" He asked. "Yes, the last one met with a rath unfortunate end," The voice said. Then a large white pair of legs with shiney black shoes stepped somewhat into the dim light. The rest of the body was shrouded in darkness. A thick hand held out a fairly large sack of coins to Rath. "Here is your pay," The voice boomed. Rath took the sack and carefully placed it inside his long black coat. "Your next assignment is to collect arm bands and left earrings. There will be a . . . bonus in store for you if you can bring me unusually colored locks of hair," The voice said as it stepped back. "Unusually colored?" Rath asked. "Yes. Pink, green, purple and such. Uncommonly seen colors," The voice explained. Rath bowed at the waist. He then turned and walked out the way he had come.

----------

Roxy stormed down the halls, fuming at herself. She'd lost the trail of Rath and a small number of thieves were following her like moths, probably attracted by her brightly colored clothes. A tall burly man stepped out in front of her. "Just what do you think you're doing?" He asked. "I'm _going _to pound him and wring his little neck," Roxy replied. "What are you--" Roxy cut the man off. "What am I? What are you? A mercenary?" She asked. "No, I'm an assassin," The man replied. "Oh," Roxy said. A small, more twitchy fellow appeared behind the man. "Little Lady, you ain't gettn' outta here alive," He said in a raspy voice. Roxy narrowed her eyes, "You wanna bet?" "Mew Roxy, metamorpho-sis!" She shouted.

Bright lights lifted her up into the air and stars swirled around her. Her white fox ears appeared on her head. A black skirt like Ichigo's formed around her legs and a violet top covered her chest. Black boots with violet buckles grew up around her feet and violet gloves with black strings formed on her arms. A huge sword with a black ribbon on the hilt appeared in her hand. She floated back to the ground. The thieves were momentarily blinded, but the assassin seemed undeterred. ""I am Mew Roxy, mew of stars and light!" she announced, holding her sword high. "You will forever regret the day you messed with Roxy Toyoka!" She shouted as she held her sword up in a ninja like position.

----------

Ichigo, Kish, Ryou, and Masaya set up camp by the river, not far from the city. They were all sitting around a fire, eating dinner. Ichigo was happily eating her food, sitting happily next to Masaya. Masaya was a little uneasy because he thought someone was watching him. Occasionally he would look around for a pair of eyes or something to give away a spy. Ryou sat calm a cool, as usual, but he was still ignoring Masaya. Kish sat rather hunched over. He'd heard an occasional mumbling from the shadows and had once heard the muffled sound of a twig snapping. He was sure they were being followed.

----------

A pale skinned woman sat in the shadows. She had long hair, black as night. When the moon shone full, stars shone in her hair. Her eyes were bright violet and her lips were a blood red. Her ears were like a pixie's, a smallish bit larger than human ears with pointed ends. Her mother had been human and her father had been one of the aliens. She was dressed in all black, except for a blood red sash around her waist and a curious pair of earrings. The earrings were small glass orbs hung on silver chains. Inside the orbs were flames. Burning flames, like fire had been captured and put inside them.

Long ago she had been betrayed by the mew, and that was when she had started working for _the boss._ She was emotionless toward everyone except two people: Kish and that pink cat-girl. Yes, she had seen that night when the girl had been raised by the cats. She knew that the girl was the next leader in a line of the mew. She hated that girl.

The woman's eyes were trained on the green haired alien, Kish. Ever since they were little, she had had a crush on him. Now she fully doubted it was only that. "You will be mine," She said quietly to herself in a sleek voice with an underline of hatred for the cat-girl.

----------

Rath walked down the street. He was fairly pleased with himself. He'd just made a whole ton of money. _The boss _was feeling generous today. Rath mildly wondered why, but then stopped. "Never question a good thing," He told himself. He walked down the road and stopped in a graying alley. He stopped and looked around. Then he pulled out a brick and reached inside with the bag of money. Behind the brick was a small spacious box containing much of Rath's earnings and a few other shiny trinkets along with extra burlap sacks. He now pulled out one of those bags and stuffed it in his coat. He replaced the brick and turned his back to the street. The alley's way out was much quicker.

As he rounded the third corner and came to a long stretch of dark brick alley, something stirred in the shadows. Rath immediately knew that whatever it was had seen him. Hiding was not a choice. Neither was turning back. The thing was behind him. A small wind rustled. A newspaper flew by. The thing, whatever it was, was in front of him. Then a girl stepped out in front of him. The most prominent feature, which Rath noticed first, was that she had white dog ears (like Inuyasha). She had long black hair with silver streaks and red tips, which, at the moment, was hanging down in her face. Her eyes were closed and tears were spilling out. A katana was slung across her back and she wore a short black kimono with blood red roses and silver dragonflies. Rath silently watched her, not daring to say anything from . . . expiriences over the years. "No, I am not for sale, no, nothing's wrong," The girl told Rath, probably assuming he was from a club or something. "Stupid hormones," She mumbled, but it came out as more of a sob. She then started to walk away. "Wh--" Rath started to ask, but the girl cut him off. "I'm Kia. Now leave me," The girl replied, still walking away. Rath waved his hand in an arrogant fashion. "Not possible if you're headed that way," Rath replied, starting once more down the alley way.

The sobbing subsided. Kia turned to face him, no longer crying. "Leave me alone," She commanded him, her silver eyes flashing red. "The way out is that way," Rath said, crossing him arms over his chest. Kia's eyes widened, then narrowed. "You're that guy who's been stalking me, aren't you?" Kia said more as a statement than a question. "I'm not stalking you," Rath said defensively. "Of course you'd deny it, but don't think I don't know that you've been following me from place to place to place," She said angrily. Blue fire was starting to build around her balled fists. "I'm telling you, I'm not stalking you!" Rath replied cooly. "Don't deny it!" Kia demanded. "I can't deny what I haven't done," Rath said. Kia glared at him and drew her katana. Rath took out his very large and very thick shining silver sword. Kia's katana blazed with the blue fire her hands channeled into it. Rath said nothing and did nothing except glared back at her with his sword drawn. "Have you anything to say for yourself?" Kia asked. When Rath said nothing, she said, "Good. Then you shall have no regrets when I kill you!" She shouted and raised her sword.

"Blue fire inferno!" She shouted as she attacked. Rath jumped back and Kia's attack hit the ground. "Oh, great, now _another _one of them's mad at me," Rath said sarcastically. "What do you mean 'another one'?" Kia asked as she attacked again. This time Rath blocked with his sword. "Well, you're a mew aren't you?" He asked. Kia paused and glared at him suspiciously. "How did you know?" She asked. Then her eyes narrowed. "So you _have _been stalking me," She concluded. Rath took advantage of her distractedness to vault over her and run down the alley, disappearning into the darkness. Kia whipped her head around and watche dhim vanish. "Oh no you don't," she said quietly and sprinted after him. "No one escapes the wrath of Mew Kia," She said to herself as she ran afte rhim.


	4. Enter Noturna

Hey, I'd like to thank everyone for their support of this story. New characters will be added in shortly. Enjoy the story!

**Chapter 4**

Roxy sprinted down the corridor with a stream of villains behind her. Assassins pushed through the crowed and used walls and table to their advantage. Thieves ran after her on foot, trying to catch hold of her. Many other unpleasant people also trailed behind. And then of course, there were the lookie-loos. Boy they were annoying. They didn't just look, they whistled at Roxy or threw things at her or into the crowd, or yelled something in another language. Roxy turned the corner and ran down one path and then turned another corner, hoping that she wasn't getting too lost. Roxy turned a third and spotted a closet door which she dashed into and slammed behind her. She listened silently, barely daring to breathe as the mob rumbled past.

Roxy opened the door a slit and peeked out. No one was visible. She opened it a little further and glanced down one side of the hall. Empty. She opened the door halfway and peeked around the edge. Roxy sighed with relief: it was safe to move.

--

The sleeping mats had been set up around the smoldering embers of the campfire. Ichigo was between Masaya and Kish, although she was much closer to Masaya than she was to Kish. Ryou was on the other side, not really sleeping, but then again, he was only half awake. He heard a rustle and his eyes moved lazily toward where it had come from. Ryou figured that it was an animal or something. Then he heard shouting and running steps. Ryou turned over on his stomach and looked around.

Sure enough, there was a something running toward the camp and another smaller something behind it. The smaller something was yelling. The two something's came closer and Ryou could see them almost clearly. One was wearing a fitted black T-shirt and carrying a large but deflated burlap sack on his back and the other was another mew. Ryou rolled over to go to sleep.

Then his brain clicked. A mew? Wasn't there one that'd run away from them because of Kish? Ryou looked up at the mew, who was much closer by now. She kind of looked like the one that had been with them. Ryou stood up and prepared to tackle the girl.

--

Kia held her glowing katana high as she cut through the air, trying to catch up to Rath. "Stalker!" She shouted at him. Rath spared her a glance and concentrated on running. He'd sheathed his sword and needed to find a good place to lose her. Back in the city would've been good, but it turned out that she had some sort of sixth sense for people who were hiding. Rath congratulated himself on never backing into a corner. Always have an alternate exit.

Rath ran through the dark and stepped on something that wasn't grass. Dying embers scattered everywhere and Rath plowed on, refusing his curious nature to stop and see what he'd done. As he heard Kia take the same path, he heard a loud thunk and a, "Hey! What're you doing you . . . you . . . you . . . show yourself you stupid person!!" By then, Rath also heard groans and mumbled questions from the other people in the camp he now knew he had disturbed. "And now it's time for me to leave," Rath said through the darkness to Kia and then ran off.

--

"Let me go!" Kia shouted and pushed Ryou off. She jumped up to go after Rath, but Ryou grabbed her wrist. "Wait!" He called out. Kia tried to shake him off. "Blue fire—" Kia started but was interrupted. "Hey what's going on?" Kish tapped her on the shoulder and asked. Kia angrily whipped her head around to glare at him. "You're not Ryou," Kish stated. "No I'm not. Now tell your friend to let go of me," Kia said. Kish looked her up and down and circled her. "What are you doing?" Kia asked, placing her free hand on her hip. "I think I know you from somewhere . . ." Kish murmured and cupped his chin. Kia raised an eyebrow, and then glaringly turned to Ryou.

"Let me go," She commanded. "Aren't you the girl who ran away from Kish?" Ryou asked. "What on earth are you talking about?!" She raged and broke free of Ryou's grasp. Kia sniffed the air and cursed. Ryou and Kish exchanged a glance. "You made me lose him. I'm camping with you for the night," Kia said suddenly. "Whatever," Ryou said lazily and fell asleep again. Kish looked at Kia with a puzzled expression. "What're you lookin' at?" She asked. Kish grunted and turned away.

--

The woman in the shadows waited until the only embers were left in the fire. Everyone in the campsite was asleep. The hated cat-girl, the rich boy (whoever he was . . .), the dog-girl, the odd one and her beloved were all sleeping. She tucked her hair behind her ear and silently floated over to the green haired one. She rested on the air above him and pulled a circular token from her bodice. It was made of stone and the ancient runes of her father's home world had been etched into it. Only a full blooded cyniclon could use it. "Let this be my gift to you, dear one, that you might know I'm here," She whispered. The woman took Kish's hand and pressed the token into it, closing his fingers around it. She lightly kissed him on the forehead and would've stayed longer, but something cracked in the distance and she teleported out.

--

Kish's ears twitched as he sensed someone whispering something. _Stupid Shirogane, _Kish thought and decided to ignore it. But then a soft hand to his and pressed a warm circular stone object into it. Kish felt cool lips on his fore head. Would no one let him sleep? Kish groggily opened his eyes and felt like he was in a dream. A beautiful woman with long dark hair floated above him. Her skin was pale as the moonlight and she had glowing violet eyes. She looked off into the distance and vanished. Vanished? Was she one of his kind? Kish sat up and looked around. She was nowhere to be seen.

He opened his hand and looked down at the object. It was a circular stone with strange markings. Kish looked closer. Wait a minute, those weren't markings, those were runes. …of some sort. At least, he thought they were runes. Kish scratched his head. It was kind of hard to tell since it was night.

--

Rath paused and looked back. He'd lost the crazy dog girl. But what to do now? Rath decided to go back to the camp and take what he could from those people. Let's see. Which disguise to use . . .

Rath pulled on the well-used afro and a brightly colored tie-dye shirt. Hmm . . . too recognizable. He pulled some glitter and threw it on. Better. Rath pulled off his long black trench coat and stuffed it in his sack along with his slacks. He pulled out a pair of oversize bellbottom girls jeans. Rath took out some sharpies and color fanciful designs on them: roses, stars, guns, daisies, hearts, skulls, and etcetera. When he was done he capped the sharpies and put them back into his bag of tricks. He pulled the sack over his back and headed toward the camp.

He reached it a few minutes before sunrise. Rath's first and closest target was that slim dog-girl, what's her name. Kia, the stupid mew. Rath quickly removed her left sock and snipped off a silver-streaked lock of hair. He bound it with a rubber band and shoved it in the sack before moving on to the next victim. The blonde rich-boy from the village. Well, today's just a big reunion day, isn't it? Rath thought grimly to himself. He stole the boy's left shoe from next to the sleeping mat and shoved it in the sack.

Rath crouched over the next one. Hey wasn't the guy they killed that other day? Nah, couldn't be, Rath decided and took the boy's right shoelace, left shoe, and pocket watch. The next mat was devoid of a person, but something shiny was hanging out of the knapsack. Rath took a look at it and was zapped. He cursed silently and warily moved away from the bag. He tripped over something and caught himself before landing on another person. Ah, the pink haired cat-girl. Rath smiled and snipped off a lock of her magenta hair. Perfect. He rooted around and finally decided upon taking the buttons from her left glove, her right glove (but he discarded the buttons on it), and one of her socks, he didn't know which. Someone began playing music. Rath quietly snuck over and looked at someone silhouetted against the hour of dawn. The infamous robber stole back into the trees and circled around back as the sun started to peek over the horizon.

--

Ichigo woke as the sun popped up over the horizon. Birds chirped in the distance and music played in the background. She smiled and stretched and thought about singing, but then disregarded the notion. Ichigo stood and brushed herself off, wondering where the music was coming from. She rolled up her sleeping mat and looked around. Kish sat on the grass looking down on the city of ashes, playing some sort of pipe like instrument. Ichigo sat down next to him as he finished. "I didn't know you could play an instrument," Ichigo commented.

At the sound of clapping the pair looked up. "That was very nice music," A man with an afro, glittering t-shirt, and colored-on jeans with a deep voice commented. Kish and Ichigo looked at each other, and then back at the man. "Pardon me, but who are you?" Ichigo asked. Kish got the feeling that he'd seen this man before. "I am many things. But you may call me the Hippy Dude," The man continued. _Uh-oh, _Kish thought and instantly became wary of him.

--

Rath knew that the spinach-head would recognize him and he'd also thought that the pink haired one might if she was smart. But, apparently, she wasn't. Either that or she was slow. Heck, she hadn't even noticed that one of her gloves was missing and that the buttons were missing off the other one. People rarely noticed when he snipped off a bit of their hair, so Rath didn't count that against the cat-girl.

"So, where are you headed?" He asked the pair, but the question was mostly directed at the green-haired one. "Into the city, for now," Spinach-head replied. Rath nodded. They might even meet up with Roxy. Now that would be interesting, considering the circumstances. He smiled and chuckled.

"What?" Kish asked, getting edgy. This guy smiling was most definitely _not _a good thing. "Oh nothing. I just came from over there and I'm headed in that direction, towards Mameha," Rath replied. "Mameha? Isn't that the large tourist city on the southern border right next to Haruka Station?" Ichigo asked. Rath was mildly surprised that Ichigo knew that. But, he replied unfazed.

"Yup, that's the one." "So do you have relatives there?" Ichigo asked. "No I'm sorry. Do you?" Rath asked. "Oh yes, I have many relatives there, although there used to be more of them. Thirty or forty years ago my uncle went insane and killed many of them, as well as many townspeople. Eventually, he was shot with a tranquilizer and forced to eat chocolate and spaghetti," Ichigo replied somewhat sadly. "Chocolate and spaghetti?" Rath asked, trying to figure out how on earth _that _could be a torture. "He was allergic to both of those," Ichigo said by way of explanation. Rath nodded. Ah, that would explain it.

"So what made him lose his marbles?" Kish asked. "He woke up one day to find his lucky monocle missing. It'd been passed down in his family from father to son for over ten generations and one day he just woke up and it was gone. He started accusing everyone of taking it and eventually, he would have simmered down, except his left shoes were all missing. He drove himself insane looking for them and then decided that the whole world was against him and needed to be punished. Or something dark and devious like that," Ichigo replied nonchalantly. _Oops, _Rath thought.

The Boss now had that precious pocket watch and those left shoes. Oh well, the uncle was dead. No matter. Rath stood, thinking that now was a good time to get out of there. "Well, I'm off. Nice chatting with you. Ta-ta cheerio!" He said. He stood up shook Ichigo and Kish's hands and bounded off into the forest behind them. Rath made his get away into the forest and brought to light his recent captures. One of those leather hair-band things that the Spinach-head wore and his right shoe. He chuckled to himself and stuffed them inside the bag.

--

Meanwhile, Kish tucked a lock of hair behind his ear and noticed that his right foot felt oddly cold compared to his left foot. He looked down. "#!!" He cursed and tore off after the Hippy Dude. Ichigo jumped up quickly and ran after Kish, not wanting to be left behind. "Kish, wait! Where are we going?" Ichigo shouted from behind. "That kleptomaniac stole my shoe!" Kish shouted back and picked up the pace. Where had that dude gotten to?!

--

Rath peeled off his disguise and tucked those in the sack too. It was about time to get a new shirt. The other one was getting holes in it. Rath brushed off the glitter as best he could and, when he failed to get all of it off, he decided that his number one priority would be to take a bath. No respectable thief would be caught undisguised with glitter on his face.

Usually, he didn't steal from the same person twice because then he might get recognized or something like that. But this time he just couldn't resist. He smiled to himself and chuckled. Then he frowned. He closed his eyes. Something was watching him. Probably an animal. Rath shrugged. Rath slung the sack over his shoulder and started walking toward a river he had seen somewhere, intending to wash off the rest of that glitter.

--

A pair of bright violet eyes begrudgingly watched Rath from above. He had stolen from her beloved. She was most certainly not going to let him get away with that. She tucked a stray lock of black hair behind her pale pointed ear and narrowed her eyes. He would pay in blood.

--

Kish and Ichigo ran through the forest. They startled a bunch of small rodents and animals that were just waking up. They saw neither hide nor tail of the Hippy Dude, however, at one point they did pass a tall man in a trench coat with long black hair carrying a large sack on his shoulder. Kish almost stopped to ask if he had seen anybody, but then decided that he could do it on his own.

--

Rath felt unseen eyes following him as he made his way down to the river. He decided that whatever it was, definitely was not a something. It was a someone. A person from that camp, perhaps? Maybe that dog-girl had found him. Rath tensed up with anticipation, but forced himself to relax. Something stirred the air behind him. Strange way for an opponent to make an entrance, but then, maybe his opponent was better than he was.

"Hello," He said, confidently.

"You have stolen what was not yours to take," a sleek female voice came from right behind him. All the women seemed to be after him these days, for one reason or another. But since she knew what he'd done, either he'd stolen from her or she'd seen him steal from others. Rath quickly decided that the latter was most likely true.

Upon sensing that the thief was not going to reply, the woman stalked up behind him and continued. "I shall reclaim for him whatever it is you have stolen," She whispered menacingly in his ear.

Rath almost smiled. Her breath tickled his ear. But he must focus on the task at hand. She had him at a disadvantage. She had seen him, but he had not seen her. She was behind him, most likely with a weapon, although he had not sensed any evidence of one so far. A cool hand softly stroked his hair and then gripped his chin, turning his face toward hers.

"You shall pay for this misdeed in blood," the woman said, speaking so that her lips were close to his. She had found that by stimulating hormones concentration was lost and that was one more advantage for her. She waited a moment for his reply.

"I see the face of my killer. But shall that face go without a name?" Rath asked the woman. He was getting a bit uncomfortable. It seemed almost as though she might kiss him. And that was no fair way to fight. Although, admittedly, he would not have minded kissing her.

"Freely return what you have unrightfully stolen and I will spare your life," The woman said, offering him a way out. She blinked her eyes, which had turned red as blood. There was silence. And then…

--

Back at the camp, all was relatively quiet. Kia was staring moodily into the fire while Ryou and Masaya slept. Rays of sunlight were just barely peeking over the edge of the horizon, making the sky a washed-out navy-grey. Kia's mood was just beginning to simmer down. She looked down at the sleeping boys. The blonde one looked pampered. Which, judging by his clothes, he probably had been. The brown-haired one was kind of cute. Kia licked her lips and turned her gaze back to the sunrise. Eventually, she'd have to go back down to that blackened waste of a city. Kia's eyelids drooped and she gazed into the dying embers of the fire before falling asleep.

--

Kish and Ichigo ran. And ran. And ran. And probably would have kept on running after the Hippy Dude until the rest of the story except that Ichigo tripped over a giant root which was lying haphazardly in her way and went flying forward into Kish who was not fast enough to avoid it. They both landed on the ground and tumbled downhill (they were running on a slope, but had not noticed it until now) until they crashed into a tree and fell backward onto the grass.

Ichigo rubbed her head and sat up. "Kish?" She asked and looked around. A groan came from below her. She looked down and found that she was sitting on his stomach. "Gack!! What're you doing down there?!" She demanded. Kish stared up at her. "You're cute when your embarrassed," he commented. Ichigo blushed and looked downward. Silence stretched on and Kish toyed with her hair.

"Do you really want to stay like this all day? Because I'm getting kind of hungry," Kish finally said. Ichigo quickly rolled off of him. "Stay here for a minute. I'll be right back," Kish said suddenly. Ichigo, taken by surprise nodded. Kish went into the trees, made sure Ichigo couldn't see him, and then he floated up into the air and looked around for the camp. Ah-hah! It was over there to the right. Which meant that they had run in a large and oddly misshapen circle . . .

--

Rath held the freaky woman's gaze for but a moment. Then, he leaped onto the nearest tree and high-tailed it outta there. No crashing on the branches and no thumping footsteps behind him. Was she not giving chase? It'd be kinda nice not to have an angry half-human female chasing after him…

The woman suddenly materialized before him. She lunged at his throat and slammed him against a tree. "Give. It. Back," She hissed. Rath struggled to breathe. In a split-second he simulntaneously lifted both his feet and kicked her in the stomach. The alien-girl went flying back and crashed into another tree where she slumped to the ground. Rath waited a moment to see if she would get up, and when she didn't, he jumped down and landed silently before her. She moaned and opened her eyes.

Rath drew a dagger and held it up against her pretty pale throat. "So, lady, care to tell me why Spinach-head's things are so important to you?" Rath asked. "His name is not Spinach-head," the woman replied. "Look lady, it's illegal to kill you, but I want you to know that it's perfectly feasible," Rath continued in a darker tone. The woman smirked at him. Rath pressured the dagger, drawing a single drop of blood. The woman grimaced. "My name is Noturna," The woman said. Then she vanished with a smirk.


End file.
